Iowa House District 59 recount underway

MASON CITY — The recount of the Mason City-based Iowa House District 59 race is underway.

Incumbent Democrat Sharon Steckman won that race by a 6328-to-5589 margin over Republican Doug Campbell, but Campbell filed for a recount despite the 739-vote margin.

Campbell had posted on Facebook that he was contesting the race “not because I’m a bad loser but the numbers do not look right”. Campbell questioned how almost 12,000 people voted in his race and 10,000 of those voted for the gun rights amendment on the ballot, but he questioned why there would be a majority voting for Steckman “who is against the Second Amendment.”

A three-member recount panel made up of a person each candidate selected as well as a court-appointed neutral third member approved using the same high-speed vote scanner that was used in the Board of Supervisors recounts in the last two weeks. The recount is expected to be completed sometime on Tuesday.

If the panel had decided to do a hand recount, County Auditor Adam Wedmore estimated that it would have taken 70 hours to complete the process.